Page 144 of A Bond so Fierce and Fragile

To her friends.

To war.

Chapter 30

Frelina

The wind had gotten colder, and Frelina was almost beginning to rethink her wish to visit Ellow when little flakes of snow filled the air.

It was supposed to be spring here.

In Vastala, it would get cooler in the winter, but not like this.

Not with snow and ice and whatever the wind that actually hurt her cheeks was called.

Frelina shuddered as she caught Elessia approaching her from the corner of her eye.

As her sister offered Frelina a blanket—one that must have been their dear uncle’s, based on the thick lining and beautiful gold stitching weaving through the black fabric—Elessia gave her a soft smile.

One Frelina had come to hate over the past few days as they’d raced toward Ellow.

It wasn’t her sister’s real smile. It was…fakewas the wrong word, but it was just… wrong. Like the reflections back in the Lakes of Mirrors, it wasn’t her sister’s usual grin—it wasn’t her real face.

Frelina could tell Merrick hated it, too, based on his brooding scowl every time Elessia threw it his way.

Her sister didn’t appear to care, though. Elessia didn’t go silent like the rest of them had after what they’d been through, didn’t draw back into her room like Frelina had come to do, especially as Raine didn’t even deign to meet her eyes anymore, clearly regretting what had happened between them in the heat of the moment back in the gods’ land.

It was as if Elessia was trying to fit as much conversation and company into their days as she could.

She kept asking Frelina about mundane things like what she and their father liked to eat when they’d been living back at their home isle.

What had come of the horses they’d kept in the stable behind the modest cottage?

Did the isle still smell like salt and forest, and did the sun warm the white cliffs where they had to watch out for the Vastala snakes that King Rioner kept breeding and letting out into the wild? The ones that swam, too, which Frelina hated more than anything else.

Elessia did the same to Merrick, and while he entertained her, his answers usually became shorter and shorter with each question until he’d pull Elessia down into his lap, kissing her so passionately that Frelina had to leave the room.

Raine was the only one who refused to speak to her. Elessia had tried for a day or two, but realized quickly that the Fae either didn’t want to talk or didn’t even listen.

“Are you all right?” Elessia asked carefully as she made sure the blanket was wrapped tightly around Frelina’s shoulders.

Frelina nodded. “I’m fine. I am just sick of being on a ship. Feels like it’s been forever since I had solid ground beneath my feet.”

Elessia laughed. A quick, breathy laugh, but one that still warmed Frelina’s heart. “I know what you mean. The mirror place definitely wasn’t solid or steady.”

Ydren popped out of the water, probably at the sound of Elessia’s voice, like she had done every day they’d traveled, just watching and waiting until Elessia crawled over the railing and got onto the beast’s back, riding there beside the ship until Merrick couldn’t stand being away from her and got her to return.

“She’s calling you,” Frelina mumbled when the wyvern made a purring sound—one that didn’t really sound feline but that she guessed was supposed to be soothing, based on how rounded Ydren’s eyes were.

Elessia shot her another one of those strange smiles. “She doesn’t feel comfortable with the other wyverns yet. She… she and I… we understand each other.”

Frelina made a concurring noise.

Elessia had told her the other wyverns swam deep beneath them, their leader apparently not trusting the group not to lead them into an ambush, and while she hadn’t spent much more time with them apart from that first meeting, she could understand why Ydren was hesitant.

None of them seemed particularly friendly.

“You should go.” Frelina tried to soften her voice, not let any sadness seep into it.